So, this was not going to be an easy fight. At all. I knew that the only hope I had would be if 4 critical dice rolls went my way, and they were also 4 of the first.

The table had one huge X factor, a giant LoS blocking building that was in one of the deployment zones. I needed that terrain piece as I could hide in it and it cut off LoS completely from 270 degrees (imagine a box with only one opening, facing the closest board edge). I also needed first turn, for Frankie not to seize the initiative and for me not to immobilize my Land Raider coming out of that building. If all of those events did go my way, I had a chance to endure that crazy firepower.

Frankie was in high spirits. He’d been curb stomping everyone on his way to game 5 of the event (and he LOVES double FoC because he is a spammer and it lets him double his spam, haha). Frankie saw he had a huge list advantage and was smelling victory at the beginning. He and I have a strong, but friendly rivalry, and sensing victory he looked pretty much like this at the beginning of the game:

Things were looking grim but remember those 4 critical roles I needed? Yeah, I got them.

Deployment zone I needed, first turn, Frankie didn’t seize, and I didn’t get immobilized coming out of terrain with my Land Raider loaded with Lysander the Libby and TH/SS Termies. It’s on!

So, I come at Frankie ultra aggressively, who had deployed in a strong flank, directly opposite me. The Land Raider barrels up the field with a 4++ thanks to Forewarning from the Rune Priest and blasting Null Zone thanks to the Libby (which works on Flickerfields!), the Ironclad drops down next to a Ravager, the Sternguard come down in his back lines. The Sternguard open up on his Jetbikes with the Homunculi and the Jetseer, killing them all earning me Warlord and First Blood. The Ironclad pops a Ravager (each of which was worth a point in Big Guns), the Land Raider blasts another. The Long Fangs in a building pop a Venom. Strong first turn for the Marines! Couldn’t have gone much better.

Frankie responds by having one of the most miserable turns of shooting I have seen in a long time. He pretty much did nothing. Everything missed, failed to punch or just fell flat. He actually got 2 punches through the 4++ on the LRC (not surprising with the mountain of Lance weapons he was packing) but rolled Snake Eyes on the damage table! Que sad trombone. The Wraithknight assaulted the LRC, but failed to damage it thanks to Forewarning. The best he managed with all of the poison weapons was to whittle down the Sternguard a bit. Wow, that was brutal.

Frankie’s face after turn 1 told the story.

It didn’t get much better after that. My Marines then started assaulting skimmers and dropping them with Krak Grenades, the Grey Hunters came down, popped another Venom then proceeded to run amok, the Ironclad continued to endure a hail of Lance weapons to pop a tank, then kill the guys inside, turn after turn. Lysander and Co. jumped out of the LRC and multi-assaulted Ravagers, dropping them. It was ugly, Frankie’s dice were ice cold and when Deldar start to lose, the wheels fall off of the bus quickly. It’s a slippery slope for them as their ability to fight back is rapidly diminished.

He had a chance to get back in the game when his Wraithknight made it into my deployement zone to assault the Long Fangs and Rune Priest, but from 3″ away he tries to assault through cover and rolls triple 1′s. The Three Eyed Snake!! Ouch, that was brutal. I countered by casting Forewarning on a unit of stubborn scouts (thanks, Lysander!) who assaulted the Wraithknight and proceeded to tar pit him for the rest of the game…until Lysander and Co. came back over to splat the big guy at game’s end!

After that, I just pressed the advantage, and swarmed Frankie’s remaining units, smashing them in assault.

It was an ugly game and honestly, I have rarely seen someone roll so poorly. Frankie was bummed out but by turn 3 kind of accepted that lady luck had just slapped him in the face and he started laughing about it. Not much else he could have done, really. In 5 games, he’d beat my list 4 times. I just got super lucky. I mean, my plan for victory was solid, but it had so many failure points that had any one of which gone against me, I was done for. Every single important event went in my favor and I needed each of them to, it was uncanny. When the wind is at your back, you just go with it!

So, the TAC Marines made it past what was the worst match-up for them at the entire tournament. Hat’s off to Frankie for being such a good sport despite monstrously bad luck.

In the movement phase, yes, in the assault phase, no. Jump units can either use their jump in the movement phase to move 12″ ignoring intervening models and terrain or they can move like infantry in the movement phase and then opt to use their jump in the assault phase. However, that still does not ignore terrain, only allows them to reroll an of the dice should they fail the charge. They still take dangerous terrain (which MCs auto-pass due to MTC) and they get a Hammer of Wrath attack, but MCs already have that.

No worries! We still get rules wrong at times (like riding in my allied transport, doh!) but we get asked rules questions multiple times a day, every day, and we always look it up so we’ve become really good with the rules.

Nasty list, yet.. I can’t help but feel like it could have been optimized further. Frankie! I know your pain, not that many lances… Hehe, they will all miss / do nothing at some point… Sadly vs Reece. Thanks for the write up!

those dagger in the NUTS, SAVE MY STASH noooooooooooooooooooooo (loud apocalyptic explosions in background), my nuttttss. Reece your luck in tournaments sir is astounding sometimes, the amount of games that you should lose but somehow the dice just stick with you on a few clutch rolls is retarded, and why I like to play this game, there is nothing more satisfying in our little game than to be on a table in a undefeated streak of games and then just keep it going despite setbacks (frankies abortion of a list that makes my flying circus look like an episode of tella tubbies) and with a schedule like yours (all good players games 1-5; 4Mrs Foster and the bathtub deamons (someone give that girl some prize support!)(and that guy popping outta the cake at the top pic hehehee)) with some key combos, also Q time

does null zone and other combinations from your list change with the new edition of the codex and do they get better or worse?

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